Music that’s right here, right now, with echoes of glories past. A dream of an album that takes off fast, edgy, in a punky rush, sounding like … a punky Rush!
Tag Archives: Punk Metal
INTERVIEW: Kambodsja Shares Their Thoughts on Musicianship and the Creative Process of “Resilient”
Hailing from the city of Drammen in Norway, Kambodsja describe the alignment of their own sounds as indie-prog-punk-metal, with a touch of post-hardcore and math rock. Think of the Swedish legends Refused, but converged altogether with elements of good old ‘70s prog rock as well as influences from a wide range of artists from Manic Street Preachers to And So I Watch You From Afar. Refusing to conform to certain conventional musical dogmas, the sounds that Kambodsja present happen to be ever-transcendent and all-around eclectic; making the creative process of their music not limited to conforming to certain genre boundaries but rather, making it about intricate explorations.
Phillip H. Anselmo & The Illegals – Choosing Mental Illness As A Virtue
Can we truly separate the art from the artist? It’s the question I’ve been ruminating in my dining room while listening to Phillip H. Anselmo & The Illegals’ Choosing Mental Illness as a Virtue (Season of Mist). An onstage stunt involving Nazi salutes transpired at a tribute show in early 2016 and ever since then I haven’t had the keenest impression of Anselmo. Several non-apologies have ensued and I’m not sure if we’ll ever get any closure. Continue reading
Ether – There is Nothing Left for Me Here
I’ve given There is Nothing Left for Me Here (Dead Truth) a few spins now and I’m shocked that Ether has remained a secret in the underground metal community. It’s not like they’re novices to the game, these are former members of acts like Remembering Never and Into the Moat we’re talking about here. Judging by their welding of Sludge and Hardcore, it may not take long now for the secret to get out.Continue reading
Video: Wisdom In Chains – Violent Americans
Pennsylvania hardcore veterans Wisdom In Chains have released a new video for their track ‘Violent Americans’. The track comes off of the bands 2015 album The God Rhythm (Fast Break!). You can watch the video at this link or below:
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Ghost Cult Album Of The Year 2015 Countdown: 10 – 2
Part five of the Ghost Cult Album of the Year countdown for 2015.
One staff team. Over 550 albums covered by Ghost Cult over the last twelve months. One epic race to be crowned Album of the Year.
Read on to dive deep into the Ghost Cult Top 10…
10. My Dying Bride – ‘Feel The Misery’ (Peaceville)
“When the history of doom metal is written, English miserabilists My Dying Bride will have their own chapter; preferably written in gothic script by a quill. After twenty-five years in the game, their long march towards the sinister continues and Feel the Misery has to rank among their best works.”
9. Cattle Decapitation – ‘The Anthropocene Exctinction’ (Metal Blade)
“The grind influences which the band are largely known for are present here, but combine with a number of other reference points and styles in a way that transforms them quite beyond the ordinary. The base-line style throughout is a crunchy, Grind-touched Death Metal that’s as comfortable with punishing grooves and sinister melodies as it is with blasting, but they expand their palette further with quasi-“industrial” effects, atmospheric passages and creepily-effective clean vocal sections.”
8. Paradise Lost – ‘The Plague Within’ (Century Media)
“Not a descent into the darkest bowels of harrowing Death-Doom, then, but expecting it to be would be rather silly. What The Plague Within offers is a sincere, heartfelt amalgam of older influences and current songwriting from a band who have always had the courage to follow their own muse where it leads them, even if it seems to lead them back.”
7. Faith No More – ‘Sol Invictus’ (Reclamation/Ipecac)
Ghost Cult Album of the Month – May “The band picks up basically where they left off with 1997’s Album of The Year. After all; resurrection may be for those who got it wrong the first time, but the same cannot be said of Faith No More whose return is a welcome and worthy one. Let’s hope it lasts as long as it can.”
6. Iron Maiden – ‘The Book Of Souls’ (Parlophone/Sanctuary/BMG)
“For a band with such a celebrated history, it is a joy and delight to confirm that The Book Of Souls stands resolute as one of the best things the band has produced. Ever. An album that works on a number of levels – the strength of the songwriting, the collective and individual musicianship, the range and power of the entire album are all deeply impressive. The Book of Souls is the collective endeavour of a band still resolutely in love with music and still gracious and humble enough to want to share that with its audience. Happy and glorious, from epic start to bombastic end.”
5. Clutch – Psychic Warfare (Weathermaker)
Ghost Cult Album of the Month – October “Thank goodness for Clutch. Clutch aren’t like most bands. Wait: Clutch are not like any other band. Now into their 20-something year of making smart, intelligent rock music, Psychic Warfare sees Neil Fallon and co in the rudest possible health, invigorating and invigorated, creatively refreshed and simply staggering and swaggering. Clutch are a band of sublime brilliance and Psychic Warfare might just be the album you’ve waited all year for. Long may they reign supreme.”
4. Napalm Death – ‘Apex Predator – Easy Meat’ (Century Media)
Ghost Cult Album of the Month – February “That the band still emits a burning intensity, railing against injustice and The Establishment, is reassuring and adds the crucial element of gravity to what is, in essence, a joyous and energising sound. Angry machine gun rattle, powerful skewing punk, flexibility in pace, a hefty boot, veering grind… I bloody love the nose-breaking, careering chaos of it all”
3. Enslaved – ‘In Times’ (Nuclear Blast)
Ghost Cult Album of the Month – March “In Times is a record of staggering, jaw-dropping brilliance. In Times distils the essence of Enslaved in brilliant, grandiose fashion but, like all great albums, suggests new, as yet uncharted opportunities. To use sporting parlance, suggesting that the band are at the top of their game is to truly misunderstand what’s going on here. Enslaved are not just at the top of their game; they are in the process of trying to change the game being played.”
2. Lamb of God – ‘VII: Sturm und Drang’ (Nuclear Blast)
Ghost Cult Album of the Month – August “About halfway through Sturm Und Drang, vocalist Randy Blythe screams: “How the FUCK did you think this would end?!” It’s both a question and a statement of defiance, summing up five years that have been nothing less than challenging for this band. That they have returned and delivered an album this ferocious, this energised, this brilliant, is utterly remarkable and testimony to a sense of collective tenacity and drive that can only be admired. All Heavy Metal records should sound this good.”
Alfahanne – Blod Eld Alfa
The blurb on the label’s website for “Black ‘n’ Roll” outfit Alfahanne says they mix “Black Metal with Classic Rock and Punk” topped off with some “Goth influences”. Well – at least they’re managing expectations.
Whilst broadly true, this mixture fails to produce anything particularly interesting on the band’s latest effort – Blod Eld Alfa (Dark Essence). Weak, repetitive “riffs” coupled with lacklustre production reminiscent of so many mid-90s demo CDs conspire to produce a weak, reedy sound that ultimately fails to evoke any metal claws, banging heads, Sid Vicious sneers or Sisters of Mercy wafts.
The insipidly limp drums sound like a budget drum machine left on repeat, the guitars sound like they’re being played by zombies and the vocals (that seem to be trying to ape one of Dani Filth‘s trademarks for a whole album) sound like they were recorded in Mum’s kitchen.
In a 9-track album of tedium, only 1 song – ‘Skallerormsgift’ – inspires any comment. It’s fairly atmospheric, displaying some Goth chops, a bit of rhythmic variety, shouty vocals that presumably comprise the claim to “Punk” and a pleasant outro that crescendos nicely. Hmmm. That’s not very Black Metal is it?
The band say this music should stop you from feeling pleasure or pain. This leads me to conclude that they set out to record an album of musical anaesthetic. If so, they have excelled themselves.
3.5/10
PHILIP PAGE
Wisdom In Chains – The God Rhythm
Six albums in, and Pennsylvania’s Wisdom In Chains have hit the gas once more on the sprightly The God Rhythm (Fast Break!), delivering a definitive statement of classy punky melodic Hardcore. All the expected elements are expertly delivered, from “Oh-o-oh-oh’s” to breakdowns, and pacy three chord strumming to emphatic tunes, all played out with a sense of invigoration of a band at ease in their own skin, and their place in the musical world.
With the term “hardcore punk” being bandied around since the early 80’s, there is an acceptance that this is a fairly conservative scene – experimentation and progressive elements aren’t particularly prevalent – and there is a recognition that various tropes and stylings should be present, with success coming to those who do it well, do it best, and who do it true. With that in mind, it is refreshing to see Wisdom In Chains mix things up. While not re-inventing the wheel, or adding a host of tech-shit or unnecessary divergences to their sound, the depth to write and include the brooding ‘Mathematics’ and a five – minute thoughtful sample led melodic instrumental (the title track) to break up the album shows the quality and musical ability inherent in the quintet.
Vocalist Mad Joe Black leads with throaty melodic shouts – possessing good enough cleans to carry enough of a tune, particularly on the Sick Of It All meets Misfits barreling of ‘Best Of Me’ – and menacing on ‘Skinhead Gang’, a track that scoots into a welcome bass-led breakdown. Wisdom In Chains show their chops with the uptempo open chord driving hardcore of shout-a-long ‘When We Were Young’ and it’s reminiscing of all-night BMXing, with the crossover thrash of ‘Fatherless’, the pure Hardcore of ‘Violent Americans’, and while punking out with the well-intentioned ‘Joey Ramone’.
In true HC style, The God Rhythm doesn’t hang around, 14 songs, 37 minutes, a whole host of exactly what you expect, sprinkled with some shrewd deviations on the normal theme. Sitting pretty much in the centre-ground of popular Hardcore, stylistically, suits Wisdom In Chains, they can throwdown, holler, groove, breakdown to their heart’s content, all while keeping on keeping on.
7.0/10
STEVE TOVEY
Deez Nuts – Word Is Bond
Deez Nuts. Yeah, you clicked this; the band name is as bad as you first thought. But that doesn’t halt the fact that this Australian unit seriously know how to write Hardcore tunes. They’ve got the crushing riffs in absolute abundance, right from the word go, but they’ve got that ridiculously over the top macho punk bullshit needed to spit the right kind of attitude onto heavy music. This is Hardcore of the Madball and Biohazard kind of spirit, not the modern beat-down obsessed version.
Not everyone can get on with Hardcore music, and many struggle to see beyond the overbearing macho facade so many in the scene focus on, but with Word Is Bond (Century Media), Deez Nuts could very well attract a whole breed of new fans into the genre. The slow chugging riffs which run their course throughout the album just generally makes this an easy album to pick up and go with. Again, much like Biohazard, they’re also clearly more than capable of throwing themselves into a thrashier style of Punk, which will again prove attractive to die-hards within the scene already.
The song structure across the album is relatively consistent. We don’t have all that many tracks which exceed even the two minute mark, so once again you’ll be able to throw this record on and blitz through it in no time. As you give this repeat listens it also becomes clear that a lot of these tracks were written with the live performance in mind – we’ve got it all; the chant along lyrics in tracks like ‘Wrong Things Right’ and ‘Chess Boxin’’, the bouncy riffs via ‘What’s Good’ and all the chaos to fill the pits through ‘Pour Up’ and the title track.
Honestly, most of this album will likely become quite forgettable as time goes by, but live the tracks have real potential to come alive. ‘Forgettable’ may seem like a strong term, but unless you become an absolute die-hard, you’ll probably give this a couple of spins and put it aside. It’s not a world beater, not a game changer for the genre, but it is a more than welcome addition to the Hardcore Punk scene.
7.0/10
TOM DONNO
Killer Refrigerator – The Fridge and the Power It Holds
Ladies and Gentlemen, we are, apparently, at war. Not the sort of war that has been on your television news broadcasts, but with technology and appliances the world over. So say the slightly crazed minds of the creators behind Killer Refrigerator. The Fridge And The Power It Holds (Independent/self-released) is KR’s second album of scatalogical humour set to an old school death and thrash metal soundtrack that is every bit as bonkers as you might have already begun to suspect.
Kicking off with ‘Terrorvision’, I had a mental image of black drainpipe jeans, white high tops and old Stormtroopers of Death t-shirts as the band dive headlong into an absurd, whirligig of frenetic thrash metal and punky vocals . We move into more mid-tempo classic thrash territory of ‘Slaystation’ which is eerily like early period Nuclear Assault and no bad thing in my mind. ‘Shower Thrashing Death’ is two minutes of aural stupidity but I mean that warmly. Let’s be fair, any band that calls a song ‘Shower Thrashing Death’ and has a lyric that proclaims the coming of the “toilet gods” and how we will all “bow down to the toiletries!” is not exactly taking itself too seriously. And neither should we.
There’s an echo of Kerry King running through ‘Slave to the Easy Bake’ and a bassline that Dan Lilker would have been proud to call his own. On the title track, it’s totally apparent that this band have a complete love of thrash and death metal that despite the obviously stupid nature of all of this, it’s done with a large degree of love and affection.
In much the same way that Evil Scarecrow have appropriated and twisted the black metal genre then so Killer Refrigerator have taken old school thrash, horror tropes and high school humour and created a small part of the musical universe that is uniquely theirs. It’s unequivocally lightweight and a bit samey in parts: there is only one joke here and whilst it’s amusing enough, you can’t possibly keep on telling it without it wearing a little bit thin. There’s a level of inevitability about that but whilst it’s here, the band are smart enough not to outstay their welcome.
Fresh, stupid, silliness.
6.0/10
Killer Refrigerator on Facebook
MAT DAVIES